Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Oct 10:11:1461621.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1461621. eCollection 2024.

The role of algae, fungi, and insect-derived proteins and bioactive peptides in preventive and clinical nutrition

Mohammed Ahmed Yimam  1   2   3 , Martina Andreini  2 , Sara Carnevale  4 , Maurizio Muscaritoli  2
Affiliations
Review

The role of algae, fungi, and insect-derived proteins and bioactive peptides in preventive and clinical nutrition

Mohammed Ahmed Yimam et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

The current global trend in the nutrition, epidemiologic and demographic transitions collectively alarms the need to pursue a sustainable protein diet that respects ecosystem and biodiversity from alternative sources, such as algae, fungi and edible insects. Then, changing the nutrition reality is extremely important to impede the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition and climate change. This review aims to synthesize the published literature on the potential roles of alternative proteins and their derived bioactive peptides in preventive and clinical nutrition, identify research gaps and inform future research areas. Google Scholar and PubMed databases from their inception up to 30 June 2024 were searched using keywords to access pertinent articles published in English language for the review. Overall, proteins derived from algae, fungi, and edible insects are high-quality proteins as animal sources and demonstrate significant potential as a sustainable source of bioactive peptides, which are metabolically potent and have negligible adverse effects. They show promise to prevent and treat diseases associated with oxidative stress, obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease (especially hypertension), and neurodegenerative diseases. Given the abundance of algae, fungi and insect peptides performed in vitro or in vivo animals, further clinical studies are needed to fully establish their safety, efficacy and practical application in preventive and clinical nutrition. Additionally, social and behavioral change communication strategies would be important to increase health awareness of nutritional benefits and promote consumer acceptance of alternative protein sources.

Keywords: algae; cancer; cardiovascular disease; dementia; fungi; insect; peptides; protein.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The relationship between obesity, undernutrition and climate change.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The possible positive effects of fungi, insects and algae in preventive and clinical nutrition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ross AC, Caballero B, Cousins RJ, Tucker KL. Modern nutrition in health and disease. Burlington, Massachusettes: Jones & Bartlett Learning; (2020).
    1. Norris SA, Frongillo EA, Black MM, Dong Y, Fall C, Lampl M, et al. . Nutrition in adolescent growth and development. Lancet. (2022) 399:172–84. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01590-7, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sharlin J, Edelstein S. Essentials of life cycle nutrition. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers; (2010).
    1. Wells JC, Sawaya AL, Wibaek R, Mwangome M, Poullas MS, Yajnik CS, et al. . The double burden of malnutrition: aetiological pathways and consequences for health. Lancet. (2020) 395:75–88. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32472-9, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Popkin BM, Corvalan C, Grummer-Strawn LM. Dynamics of the double burden of malnutrition and the changing nutrition reality. Lancet. (2020) 395:65–74. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32497-3, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources